A Brother's Legacy

Post On Tuesday, April 29, 2014 By Katriina

My preeclampsia story begins with my mother.

I was nine years old when she was pregnant with my brother, Zachary. I remember sitting next to her on the sofa, her legs up on the coffee table, "Watch what happens when I press my thumb into my skin," she said, and I watched the indentation stay. And I pressed my thumb in, creating a shallow pit on her leg, as she closed her eyes and napped in third trimester exhaustion.

23 years later, I sat in my own living room, feet propped up on the coffee table, 31 weeks pregnant, and pressed my thumb into my shin. And felt nearly sick to my stomach when the indentation stayed. Something was wrong. Instinctively I knew. I had frequent Braxton Hicks. I had terrible heartburn and nausea. But my blood pressure was 120/80 and baby looked great on ultrasound. But I couldn't sleep. And my temporary "pregnancy" larger-sized wedding band wouldn't even fit anymore.

At 38+5 weeks, my in-laws visited and I saw spots. They were subtle, just a few that quickly moved across my right eye, then a dull headache. Very mild. That night I checked my blood pressure at home. 142/90. My blood pressure came down in L&D, but I was sent home with a 24-hr urine container that was positive for protein. Just above the cut off for preeclampsia.

So I was induced at 39+1. My OB's partner told me that he wasn't going to put me on magnesium. He wasn't convinced it was preeclampsia -- just pregnancy-induced high blood pressure. I labored for 24 hours and my cervix wouldn't budge beyond 4cm, baby was 'sunny-side' up, and my blood pressure and temperature were rising. Ellie was born via c-section, a healthy 8lb 12oz girl.

I lost a lot of blood during the surgery and felt 'out of it' after Ellie was born. I had a severe headache that worsened when I stood up. I was told it was a spinal headache and that it would go away after a few days. On the day of discharge from the hospital, it took all my strength to shower and change my clothing. My head was pounding.

I was in the ER the following day, with a splitting headache, seeing flashes of light march across my visual field. My blood pressure was elevated. I was initially sent home with a migraine and told to avoid narcotics! But when my home blood pressure rose to 190/100, I returned to the ER that night and was admitted for severe post-partum preeclampsia. I was hospitalized for another five days, initially on a magnesium drip, trying to find the right combination of medications that would keep my blood pressure down. I was never so afraid of dying...I had never felt that death was so close.

It took weeks before my blood pressure stabilized. It took 6 months to come off of blood pressure medications. I took months for anxiety symptoms to resolve. But, I am well, and Ellie is well. Thank God, Ellie is well.

My brother Zachary was not. My mom's pitting edema was also from preeclampsia. She had developed HELLP syndrome. And Zachary lived only 13-hours, due to complications of preeclampsia.

Zachary's death has always seemed so senseless. But, if I hadn't seen pitting edema... If I hadn't seen my mother's symptoms of preeclampsia, I often wonder if I would have recognized my own. ...and if I hadn't, I wonder if Ellie (or I) could have been another victim of this terrible disease.

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The Preeclampsia Foundation makes every effort to ensure the secure collection and transmission of sensitive user information using industry accepted data collection and encryption methodologies.

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Should you wish to review or make corrections to your personal information, please click Login/Join at the top of the page and enter your login information. A page titled "Edit Your Details" will appear in the main body of the page where you can view and make corrections. If you wish to be removed entirely from our database, please email info@preeclampsia.org.

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Privacy Policy

Normal web site usageThe Preeclampsia Foundation has a firm commitment to Internet privacy. You can visit most portions of preeclampsia.org without telling us who you are and without revealing any personal information. The only information we collect from a normal web site visit is the name of your Internet Service Provider, the browser and type of machine you are using, the web site that referred you to us, the pages you request and the date and time you request them. We use this information to generate statistics and measure site activity to improve the usefulness of the site to our visitors.

Collection of personally identifiable informationThe Preeclampsia Foundation may collect names, email addresses and other personally identifiable data about visitors when such data is voluntarily submitted to preeclampsia.org. For example, our site uses forms for visitors to register or make a donation online. Contact information from these forms is used to send information about preeclampsia or Foundation activity to our visitors. Financial information is used to bill or provide receipts to visitors in connection with their donations. To ensure the security of credit card and personal information, this Web site employs industry-standard security methods, including the Secure Socket Layers (SSL) protocol for the encryption of transmitted data. The Preeclampsia Foundation goes to great lengths to protect the confidentiality and integrity of any personal information you share with us over the Internet. In instances where we may partner with medical organizations to conduct research on preeclampsia, your participation may be expressly requested, but your permission would be required prior to sharing personally identifiable data with authorized medical organizations.

The Preeclampsia Foundation makes every effort to ensure the secure collection and transmission of sensitive user information using industry accepted data collection and encryption methodologies.

Donor Privacy PolicyThe Preeclampsia Foundation does not sell or otherwise disclose user information outside the organization. We will not sell, trade or share a donor's personal information with anyone else, nor send donor mailings on behalf of other organizations.

Should you wish to review or make corrections to your personal information, please click Login/Join at the top of the page and enter your login information. A page titled "Edit Your Details" will appear in the main body of the page where you can view and make corrections. If you wish to be removed entirely from our database, please email info@preeclampsia.org.

CookiesWe do not use cookies on the majority of our website pages. The donate pages do use "per session" cookies. Per session cookies last only for the life of your current browser load and use no permanent storage on your hard drive. The use of per session cookies is very common in modern Web sites.